


from the other side

by avapacifica



Series: October Writing Challenge 2019 [24]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Closure, Dreams, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Hallucinations, Haunting, Hope, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 18:58:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21166448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avapacifica/pseuds/avapacifica
Summary: Eddie is following him around, Richie swears to god. But that's not really possible now, is it?





	from the other side

**Author's Note:**

> Day 24: Voice  
Ya girl is really getting in her reddie stuff lately huh?

The first time Richie hears Eddie’s voice after he had died, he’s in the Townhouse. He had taken a shower, wanting to get the lake water off of him. He just can’t get the thought out of his mind of how much Eddie would hate how dirty he was. He had scrubbed for over an hour, and even being out of the scalding water, he still felt unclean. But it was a little better than it was before, so at least there’s that.

His face is beet red. Richie isn’t sure if it’s from the water or his tears. That’s when he hears the voice, when he’s looking in the mirror (judging himself, but I suppose that’s not relevant). 

“Richie?”

It’s as clear as day. The time is already well past midnight, no one else it still awake. No one is making noise either, not even the animals outside. That’s how he can distinguish Eddie so easily. But he’s not there, he can’t possibly be. The mirror is large, he’s getting a reflection of the entire room. There’s no person here but him.

His second thought goes straight to Pennywise. After all, he is in a bathroom, that’s a place surrounded by pipes. All pipes that lead back to the sewer. He forgets to breath for a moment, and almost starts choking on nothing, until he remembers seconds later that It is dead. He doesn’t know why he didn’t recall, he almost thinks the fear sent his brain back in time, back when Pennywise was alive leaving Eddie alive as well.

Like a child, he checks behind the shower curtain. He’s saddened to find nothing there. He knows he heard Eddie’s voice, he’s memorized every aspect of it. Richie doesn’t think he’ll ever forget. Yet it couldn’t have been. So he does what any rational member of the loser’s club would do. He goes to Big Bill.

He’s about to turn away when he reaches Bill’s door, but he hears laughter inside the room, and the name Audra being tossed. He’s not rude enough to wake someone up, but he’s not really putting himself past interrupting a phone call at the moment. So he knocks. 

He hears Bill inside telling his wife to hold on. He seems annoyed when he opens the door, but when he sees how worried Richie is, he lets him right in. Rich explains about the voice, but Bill just claims he’s in grief. Richie’s not mad, he just wish Bill would understand. He knows what he heard. Purely for Bill though, he puts his mind to forgetting about it. There really isn’t any logical explanation, best to just leave it alone.

But then he hears it a second time. He’s at the kissing bridge, recarving their initials. It just seems right now, with Eddie gone and all. Some mark of him needs to be left in Derry, even if he never knew it existed. The voice is right in his ear, almost as if the imaginary Eddie is right next to him.

“I’m proud of you.”

When he had thought back after the first time, he wondered why he didn’t scared. Conscious of it now, he can understand. The voice is approaching him peacefully, and above all, it’s Eddies. That’s about the farthest from scary Richie thinks he can get.

Maybe it really is all a hallucination, made up by his mind to get over the loss of someone he loves. It’s only come at times when he was thinking of Eddie, though he supposes he’ll always be doing that for a while into his future. If this is all in his mind, he’s not sure he wants to get rid of it. If his brain has memorized the sound of Eddie so perfectly, he can’t possibly turn it away.

Richie goes home that night. He can’t seem to sleep on the plane, or the ride home. There’s too much to think about from Derry. And when he realizes he’s not forgetting anything the further he gets, that’s a whole other issue to send his thoughts to. Only when he gets to his bed is he finally able to rest. His final thought before he falls asleep is that he hasn’t heard the voice since he left, and he sadly wonders if it was just a Derry thing.

His dreams start out as nightmares, but he’d known that was going to happen. You don’t fight a million year old demon clown without receiving a big helping of PTSD on your side. But then in the middle of it all, the fear stops. He’s on the bridge again, and Eddie’s there this time. The dead one glances at the carvings, and then looks back at Richie.

“I liked you too.” Wow, that’s a hell of a thing to drop on someone after depriving them of your life.

“That’s just what my mind wants me to think, so some closure comes out of this.”

“I suppose that could be true. I guess I have no way of proving I’m real.” Dream Eddie seems sad.

“Tell me something alive Eds never told me.” 

“I don’t like being called that.” Eddie glares at him, “Yeah, yeah, I know you already know that. Something I never told you?” He thinks for only a moment, his eyes wander to his feet. “I think I even loved you.” Richie turns away from him, already getting teary eyed. That’s not supposed to happen, this isn’t even real.

“Why am I thinking this up? This is just making me feel more shitty.“ A pair of arms lace around his torso, he turns to Eddie, who immediately rests his head in the crook of Richie’s neck.

“I think this is real Rich. Like I said, I have no way of proving it. I don’t even know how I got here. I think I needed to tell you so I can move on. But this is me, please believe it.” Richie hugs back, still unsure, but wanting it to last. It feels like it goes on for an eternity, though that could all be mere seconds in real life, but eventually, Richie wakes up. 

It’s not in a cold sweat, he’s not worried or even sad. He’s already been through the two of those. There’s something warm resting in his heart, and he thinks that maybe that’s Eddie, a piece of him that’ll stay. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments are always appreciated, they make my day!


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